Agenda item

Purpose of the Report: To respond to the interest of the Highways and Growth Select Committee in understanding how the Council works with local businesses and partners to address skills gaps and future workforce demands in Surrey.

Witnesses:

Paula Neal, Relationship Manager Skills for Business
Bob Pickles, Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board, Head of Corporate & Government AffairsCanon UK & Ireland
Tracie Evans, Executive Director of Economy, Growth and Commercial

Key points raised in the discussion:

1. Officers provided context to the formation of the Employment and Skills Board (ESB) in 2013, noting that it was aimed to encourage economic growth in partnership with the local authority, employers, higher education authorities and other key stakeholders. It was stressed that this was a volunteer, employer led body. It was noted, however, that the ESB had received dedicated officer support from Surrey County Council as of early 2018.
   
   
2. The Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board highlighted that one of the key assets of the ESB was its capability to create a network of employers, local authorities, higher education authorities, and others which would work to identify skills gaps and provide a collective voice to suggest resolutions to these skills gaps.
   
   
3. Members questioned whether there was a significant gap between public and private sector ways of working. The Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board noted that there was a difference in working cultures, but that the public sector had been changing to more match private sector ways of working, which ensured that this issue was not acute. It was noted, however, that there was still a cultural difference in the way that schools work, but that the ESB had worked to outreach to schools to bridge the gap.
   
   
4. Members questioned how the ESB could outreach more to businesses and to improve its visibility. The Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board noted that it had been working with the Relationship Manager, Skills for Business to further develop the digital reach of the ESB, and that more work needed to be done to improve upon this.
   
   
5. Members questioned whether disability groups were represented sufficiently on the ESB and whether there was any opportunity to outreach to these groups to potentially engage with a project to improve disabled employability. The Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board stressed that all representatives of the ESB dealt with issues relating to disability on a regular basis, but that there was no specific representative. The Chairman of the ESB did note that he would like to see improved engagement with disability groups, and welcomed input from the Committee as to how to potentially engage better with these groups. Members offered to provide suggestions to the Chairman of the ESB after the meeting.
   
   
6. Members questioned gaps in membership and outreach, asking whether there was scope to include NHS and school organisations more. The Chairman of the ESB explained that it was working to regain school representation on the Board; it was noted that it had been the case historically that there was a representative of schools on the Board, which the Board was hoping to rectify. It was also stressed that the Board was currently seeking a representative from the NHS. The Chairman of the ESB asked the Committee whether it could provide information or contacts for NHS organisations to help with outreach.
   
   
7. The Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board explained that a key work stream of the ESB through 2018 had been work undertaken on the “debug” of the apprenticeship levy from a business perspective.
   
   
8. Members noted that the take-up of apprenticeships had dropped in the county from implementation of the apprenticeship levy and questioned why this was the case and if there was any reputation work for apprenticeships that the ESB could engage with. Officers noted that the Board was working to understand the inhibitions towards utilisation of the apprenticeship levy by businesses.
   
   
9. Officers explained that there was work underway in businesses to design apprenticeship standards to clarify what is required from an apprenticeship and increase take-up. It was stressed by the Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board that the Relationship Manager, Skills for Business had undertaken work to organise an event to analyse more thoroughly reasons for lower uptake.
   
   
10. Officers explained that the Deputy Leader had implemented an Apprenticeship Task Force to analyse issues preventing the Local Authority from maximising the use of apprenticeships.
    
    
11. Officers noted that improved links with schools, Higher Education authorities and the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) was important in enhancing the reputation of apprenticeships. It was noted that secondary schools were becoming more active, and were required to appoint a dedicated career leader, as part of the Gatsby benchmarks, in September 2018. It was also noted that the ESB supported the work of the LEPs on a work stream to recruit volunteer business leaders to work strategically with school leadership teams to improve career advice, which was aimed to improve links between businesses and schools and close skills gaps.
    
    
12. Members questioned whether there was more scope to further outreach to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board noted that the Board included the Federation of Small Businesses, and others, and that it did work to network with small businesses as much as possible to gain their views. It was noted that the ESB would welcome further views on how to outreach to SMEs better in future and encouraged Members to outreach to SMEs on behalf of the Board to improve outreach and visibility.
    
    
13. Members questioned the return of investment of the ESB and what the overall costs and outcomes for the Board are. The Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board offered to provide this information to the Board at a later date.
    
    
14. Members asked whether there was any scope for the ESB to work to encourage development of skills for older workers. The Chairman of the Employment and Skills Board noted that there was no longer a cap on age for apprenticeships, which would serve to encourage development at all ages. It was also noted that work to improve the reputation of apprenticeships would also aid with the resolution of this issue.
    
    
15. Members questioned the work undertaken by the ESB in the apprenticeship debug, and whether suggestions made would be utilised. Officers noted that the suggestions that they had made were well received by the Local Government Association (LGA) and that suggestions were in line with what the LGA were hoping to achieve.
    
    
16. Members questioned the funding for the ESB and asked whether the funding for the work of the ESB was secure. It was noted that, beyond volunteer time, the funding resource was supplied by Surrey County Council. Officers noted that the ESB would be looking to see whether there were additional funding opportunities that the Board could engage with from the LEPs to help improve their project work and impact. It was noted that officers were looking at alternative sources of funding for projects, as well as utilising partner organisations resources in order to undertake these projects.
    
    
17. Officers outlined the projects planned for the ESB over the next year, noting that there was planned work with East Surrey College regarding the implementation of T-Levels, as well as other projects. Members questioned the implementation of T-Levels and whether these will work to alleviate the skills gaps from the perspective of businesses. Officers suggested that T Levels may work to alleviate the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects better than the current system.
    
    
18. Officers offered to share the forward plan of the Board for the next year with the aim of reporting on progress of these activities in the next year.
    
    
19. Officers explained that the Board had good relations with the LEPs and that they were active in seeking support from the Board on developing their Strategic Economic Plans. It was also noted that the LEPs wanted to develop their own Skills Boards in a similar model to the Surrey one. The Chairman of the ESB had concerns regarding duplication, but saw opportunities for linkage with the LEPs.
    
    
20. Members questioned whether there were links with schemes for training and development of skills in Boroughs and Districts, noting that some areas had schemes that were underway that the ESB could link into. Officers noted that there was evidence of good programmes and that the ESB was linked in with them, but that there was significant work to do to encourage similar programmes across Surrey.
    
    

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. That the Deputy Leader includes a work stream in the Apprenticeship task force that looks at the challenges presented in the apprenticeship levy from a business perspective, and on findings relating to issues preventing the Local Authority from maximising the use of apprenticeships and that this is reported to the Committee upon its conclusion.
2. That the Deputy Leader ensures that sufficient resource is allocated to the Employment and Skills Board to guarantee that it can effectively outreach to businesses and partners and that it can successfully undertake the work in its forward programme.
3. That officers provide information on the return of investment from Surrey County Council for the ESB.
4. That the ESB shares its forward plan of work with the Committee and that progress on this is reviewed by the Committee in September 2019.